‘Science and Nature’

Of all the animals who blend into what’s around them using shape and color, the leaf-tailed gecko might be one of the coolest. It lives on the island of Madagascar, and looks just like the way it sounds: with a tail that looks like a leaf. And that’s not the only cool thing about it.

Tomorrow morning many of us will get to see a lunar eclipse, one of the coolest solar system events you can watch. The Earth will move right between the Sun and Moon to put its own shadow right on the Moon. This will make the Moon turn a cool shade of reddish-orange as it slides into our shadow.

As Halloween nears, we start thinking about ghosts, monsters, and creepy creatures. We also think about more cheerful, colorful things like pumpkins, too. So what better way to celebrate than to make a monster out of pumpkins?

Butterflies are beautiful, but most don’t start out looking quite so nice. Take the swallowtail butterfly pictured here for example. In caterpillar form it looks like bird poop so other animals won’t eat it – and that seems to work! Click “Read More” to find out more, and see how the numbers transform in this shape-shifting math.

If you’ve ever slept over at a friend’s house, you know how hard it is to sleep at these things. It’s just too much fun to be with people you don’t normally see at that time. And even though you’ll fall asleep really late, you might wake up early the next morning anyway, since you’re used to it. Click “Read More” to some sleepover bedtime math!

If you had to choose between running into a crocodile or a shark, you’d have a tough decision, since you probably don’t want to mess with either one. But what happens when those two animals bump into each other? Click “Read More” to see what happened in real life, and do the math to see what should happen!

The mola mola fish, or sunfish, is definitely a fish, but looks more like an alien visiting from outer space. And when it comes to this wacky creature, there are a lot of numbers! Click “Read More” to discover these numbers, and do the mola mola math.

Lobsters are those reddish-pink, claw-waving sea critters who hope not to get caught and become someone’s tasty dinner. Well, two lobsters have escaped being eaten simply by looking really cool. Click “Read More” to find out how their good looks saved them, and do the lobster math.